Ava stared, her heart breaking into a thousand pieces.
After everything—everything—Jason didn’t want her? Couldn’t even say anything to her? Anger flooded her, boiled through her veins, and she wouldn’t have been surprised to see steam coming off her bodysuit, she was so pissed off.
“How fucking dare you, Jason Gregorian!” How could he reject her now? After everything? After the file, after all they’d shared…
Now she wasn’t good enough for him?
She marched after him and grabbed the door handle.
Or would have, if it hadn’t flown open in her face, Jason standing on the other side.
“Do you know what I had to go through to be here? And you fucking walk away, not even saying a word? I’ve been riding that goddamn bike for four hours, trying to get here! I had to atone for every goddamn sin I ever made in the Fairy world, just so I could be here, for you. With you. And you fucking walk away?”
Jason held up his hand. “Towel.”
Sure enough, he held a thick, plush bath towel in his hand. And he wrapped it around her.
She blinked, the anger diffusing as the towel warmed her shoulders. “You couldn’t have said, ‘Ava, let me get you a towel’?”
“Figured you’d know what I was doing.”
She blinked. “Why would I?”
“Common sense.” He shrugged. “I gotta take care of you.”
“I don’t need anyone to take care of me. I can be just fine by myself.” She spun around to walk away.
She didn’t need this shit. Her heart split in two, and she wasn’t about to be some charity case for Jason.
He grabbed her arm, stopping her. “If you’re stupid enough to ride a motorcycle in this downpour, then, sweetheart, you need someone to take care of you. Badly.”
“How dare you!” She jerked out of his touch. “I didn’t come here for a babysitter. I came here because I thought you fucking loved me.”
“I do.”
She opened her mouth to continue, not really registering what he’d said. “The file said— Wait…what?”
“I love you,” Jason said. “I think I fell for you at the wedding. It nearly killed me when Zeus—”
“Jupiter. His name’s Jupiter.”
“Whatever. When he slammed that ball down, I felt like I died.” He put his hand on her shoulder. “What about the file?”
She shook her head, the words slamming into her. “I’m your HEA, Jason. That’s what was changed in the file.”
He nodded. Looked at the floor. Then back at her. A gambit of emotions rolled over his face as what she said truly sank in. The same surge ran through her—confusion, exhaustion, desire, love, relief. All of it tugging at her in a million different directions.
Jason loved her.
He loves me…
She’d never felt anything like it—the overwhelming emotion surged through her, and she couldn’t articulate what to say. What to do.
This time, when he looked at her, his eyes darkened, and a very primal expression covered his face.
“So you’re mine.”
Ava nodded.
“Good.”
And he scooped her into his arms and took her back to the bedroom, kissing her all the way.
The thunderstorm had backed off, and was now just a soft spring rain, the noise a happy overture outside as Ava lay on Jason’s bed.
Ava stretched, rolled onto her stomach and purred. The man certainly knew how to make her feel amazing. Even without her wings.
“Lovely,” Jason said when he came back from disposing of the condom. Now that she was just as mortal as anyone, condoms were very necessary.
“Two questions,” Jason said as he climbed on the bed. “First off…are we gonna have fairy babies?”
She smirked. “Well, I wasn’t told I couldn’t, so you never know.”
“Ahh,” he said, running his hand over her bottom. “And what about this…” He slid his hand higher, across her back, where the ridges that held her wings used to be. He began to trace the outlines of the fairy wings tattoo on her shoulder blades. “Because it’s very, very sexy.” He leaned over and kissed first one side, then the other.
“Can’t forget my roots, you know?” she said, mewing as he kissed up and down her back.
“No, we can’t forget that.”
And then he tried very hard to make her forget again.